From the very dawn of civilization, people have been united by the act of eating. The gathering of family and friends together around the table, food and drink flowing freely, is always among the most joyful images, so much so that it has become the very foundation of multiple festivals and holidays around the world. So it isn’t a surprise that one of the best manga in recent years, Delicious in Dungeon, is about food and, more importantly, the community that food creates.

Spoilers for the Delicious in Dungeon manga follow.

The initial concept of Delicious in Dungeon makes the food aspect of dungeon crawling feel like a gimmick to keep the series from feeling like any other high fantasy manga. The way that most characters react to Senshi’s skill and insistence on cooking the various creatures he finds in the dungeon